Iraqi forces storm Mosul government complex, hoist flag

By Susannah George and Sinan Salaheddin

Published 1:58 pm, Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Photo: Khalid Mohammed, Associated Press

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Iraqi security forces advance during fighting against Islamic State militants in Dawasa neighborhood in western Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces were fighting their way through a government complex in the heart of western Mosul after storming the buildings in an overnight raid, and were facing fierce counterattacks Tuesday from the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed) less

Iraqi security forces advance during fighting against Islamic State militants in Dawasa neighborhood in western Mosul, Iraq, Tuesday, March 7, 2017. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces were fighting their way through a ... more

Photo: Khalid Mohammed, Associated Press

Iraqi forces storm Mosul government complex, hoist flag

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MOSUL, Iraq — U.S.-backed Iraqi forces were fighting their way through a government complex in the heart of western Mosul after storming the buildings in an overnight raid, and were facing fierce counterattacks Tuesday from the Islamic State.

According to Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, the troops hoisted an Iraqi flag on the complex of buildings in the Dawasa neighborhood earlier in the morning, hailing the federal police units who stormed the compound as heroes.

By noon, troops on the ground said the complex had not yet been fully secured and that they were battling a wave of intense Islamic State counterattacks.

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Sgt. Azam Ibrahim of the federal police was with the first troops to storm the Mosul government complex. His unit then pulled back to a base on the edge of Mosul’s Tayran neighborhood, and he said the clashes were still under way at the complex later Tuesday.

“We were pulled back because we had killed and wounded,” said Ibrahim. “The (Iraqi) forces there are surrounded, the Humvees cannot reach them, nor can the ambulances.”

The consistent advance — more than two weeks since the new push started to clear Mosul’s western side of Islamic State militants — has been a major blow to the extremists, who once controlled nearly a third of Iraq.

Iraqi forces declared eastern Mosul “fully liberated” in January after officially launching the operation to retake the city in October

Yar Allah, who commands the army operations in Ninevah province, where Mosul is the provincial capital, said the troops now also control the western side of a second bridge across the Tigris River, known as the Hurriyah Bridge.

Mosul is Iraq’s second-largest city, and its western half is the last significant urban area held by Islamic State in the country.